Residents of Dagenham have dubbed their town “Ratland” due to a severe infestation of rodents and overwhelming rubbish problems.
Locals describe “inhumane” conditions that have transformed the once rural east London town into what they call a “living wasteland”.
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Mounds of rubbish flood the streets, reaching right up to people’s doorsteps and creating perfect conditions for rats to thrive.
“The rubbish is terrible, everybody just seems to be throwing it out. There’s rubbish everywhere, it’s for sure plaguing Dagenham,” Michael O’Neill, 62, told the Daily Mail.
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The rubbish has created perfect conditions for rats to thrive (file pic)
Chris Mitchell – GMB
The HGV driver is among many residents distressed by the deteriorating situation.
Residents report that rats are a constant presence in the area.
“I live by the railway and they are always coming into the back of my house,” one local said, adding that the rats are “never ending, it’s going to be like this forever.”
The rodent problem has become so severe that a B&M store in the town centre was recently forced to close temporarily due to a “pest issue”.
Vet worker Kimberly Lee, 38, warned about health risks to pets.
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Residents say that mounds of rubbish are flooding the streets
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“We have to make sure they are vaccinated against Leptospirosis for this reason otherwise they could catch it and die,” she explained, referring to a disease spread through rat urine.
Residents blame the Labour council for failing to address the mounting crisis despite increasing council tax.
“The local authority are quite quick to ask you to park your car correctly and this that and the other, but they won’t do anything with the rubbish,” said O’Neill.
“Everything’s going up but you don’t see where they’re spending their money; you don’t see any more road sweepers or bin men where the rubbish is concerned.”
Olivia Virag, 55, a librarian who has lived in the area for five years, has collected 1,000 signatures on a petition calling for action.
“We are shouting for help – but it’s like no one can hear us,” she said.
Barking and Dagenham Council has defended its approach to the problems. “We have implemented action plans for areas in the borough particularly affected by the issue, which include regular, targeted cleans,” a spokesperson said.
The council provides weekly collection for general waste and fortnightly collections for recycling.
Its Pest Control team works across council-owned land and buildings to reduce rodent activity.
“We hope that by fining fly-tippers and people littering, working with partners to install new public bins, regularly checking on hotspots and making residents aware of the right way to dispose of waste, the issues around littering will decrease,” the spokesperson added.
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